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UBC to host Canada vs. Italy in Davis Cup tennis

Canada's Vasek Pospisil, left, of Vernon, B.C., and Daniel Nestor, of Toronto, Ont., talk strategy while playing Spain's Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez during a Davis Cup tennis world group first-round tie doubles match in Vancouver, B.C., on Saturday February 2, 2013.

Photograph by: Darryl Dyck
, THE CANADIAN PRESS

Tennis Canada is expected to announce Tuesday that the next round in Canada’s Davis Cup quest will again be played at the University of B.C.’s Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.

The national team is returning to the same city where Canada defeated No. 1-ranked Spain Feb. 1-3 to advance to the quarter-finals of the Davis Cup for the first time. Canada will play Italy, first-round winners over Croatia, in the next World Group tie, April 5-7.

A good tip-off that Canada-Italy was slated for Vancouver was the short turnaround time following the last tie against Spain. The acrylic-topped, hard-court surface favoured by Canada’s ace, Milos Raonic, never left the building. It’s the same composition used at the ATP’s SAP Open in San Jose, won by Raonic for the third straight time Sunday, with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Tommy Haas of Germany.

Kavie Toor, the associate director of facilities and business development for UBC Athletics and Recreation, said the surface was boxed up and stored at the Thunderbird Sports Centre immediately after Canada’s win against Spain. That victory was secured when Raonic won his second singles match, with a straight-sets victory over Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.

Toor said the organizational and logistical pieces are already in place to make the next Davis Cup tie virtually a turnkey operation. The International Tennis Federation requires a tennis venue of at least 6,000 seats for quarter-final play in the Davis Cup. Thunderbird Sports Centre, with the addition of some temporary seating, maxed out at 6,214 seats for the recent tie against Spain.

“There’s always something to be said for winning a (Davis Cup) round and coming back to the same place under the same conditions,” said Gavin Ziv, tournament director for Tennis Canada.

“You’d probably be looking at indoor conditions in early April anywhere in Canada except, possibly, Vancouver. But probably the biggest factor is the country we’re playing against. What surface gives our players the best chance to win? Our

No. 1 goal is to win.

“Sometimes you might be leaving money on the table by not going to a bigger venue. But that’s OK. Having a good, loud home crowd will help our guys win. That’s one reason why they love playing in Vancouver.”

Canada moved up four spots in the Davis Cup World Cup rankings to No. 8 following its win over Spain, which was without three of his brightest singles stars — Rafael Nadal, David Ferrer and Nicolas Almagro.

Italy, ranked No. 9 in the world, defeated Croatia 3-2 in its first-round tie just over two weeks ago on indoor clay at the Palavela in Turin.

Canadian captain Martin Laurendeau noted that playing on the road can hamper even the best teams, especially ones playing out of their element, on a surface of the home team’s choosing. The Italians, like the Spaniards, favour the clay court surfaces which dominate in Europe.

The Canadian team should be deeper than the squad that defeated Spain with the addition of ATP top 100 player Jesse Levine, an Ottawa native who moved with his family to Florida at age 13.

Levine applied to the ITF for reinstatement as a Canadian in December and will have served out a mandatory 90-day waiting period for the change by the time of the Italy tie.

Levine, Vasek Pospisil of Vancouver and Frank Dancevic of Niagara Falls, Ont., are expected to compete for the second singles spot on the Canadian team behind Raonic.

Dancevic, in an otherworldly state of mind, blew out Marcel Granollers, the world No. 32,

6-1, 6-2, 6-2 in the second singles match of the first day to give Canada an unexpected 2-0 lead over Spain. At the time, Dancevic was ranked 132 spots lower than Granollers.

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